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Category: MPs expenses probe

Is the battle now down to Young vs Beckett?

Is the battle now down to Young vs Beckett?

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Where’s the best value in the Speaker betting? With less than four days to go before the summer’s big political betting event is resolved – the battle for the Speakership of the house of commons – I’m becoming increasingly convinced that this is now a contest between Sir George Young and Margaret Beckett. I had a good session this afternoon with a Labour MP who has been taking a close interest in the contest and his observations closely coincided what…

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Welcome to the parliamentary expenses “Big Bang”

Welcome to the parliamentary expenses “Big Bang”

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But has too much been blacked out? This morning at 6am copies of all the expense claims from all members of the house went online – for all to see. The website is here. This is the data that has been promised for so long and which has already cost a number of political careers – the latest one being Kitty Ussher, the treasury minister, overnight. MPs have had the opportunity to blank out personal details that they did not…

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How many more will follow Kitty?

How many more will follow Kitty?

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Daily Telegraph Another minister bites the dust Kitty Ussher, the Burnley MP who only got her latest ministerial job last week, has quit her Treasury post following more revelations. She’s also announced that she won’t be standing again at the general election. She might be the first of many in the next few days. Tomorrow at 6am sees the official publication of all redacted receipts for all MPs. This story is going to go on. UPDATE: Paul Waugh in the…

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What’s this going to do to the elections?

What’s this going to do to the elections?

Remember the headlines two months ago today? Exactly two months ago this morning I did a similar collage of newspaper front pages to the one here – and how different they all looked. For April 3rd 2009 was the day after the G20 meeting and Mr Brown got some of the best coverage of his premiership. Who would have thought then that only a few weeks later that the big political question politics would be whether Brown can hang on….

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Marf on Darling’s homes and the YouGov poll we missed

Marf on Darling’s homes and the YouGov poll we missed

And it’s not much change from the online pollster With all the other big political news I missed a new YouGov poll in the Telegraph this morning. The headline Westminster figures were CON 39(nc): LAB 22(-1): LDEM 18(-1). Clearly these have been affected by Thursday’s Euro election and “others” are at a very high level. The Lib Dems will de disappointed that there’s no confirmation of the progress that the ICM poll found yesterday but the online pollster has in…

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Is the Tory clear-out Dave’s “Clause 4”?

Is the Tory clear-out Dave’s “Clause 4”?

Will the focus on his miscreants be good for the party? Over the past few days there’s been a lot of concern in Conservative circles over the way the media has put the focus on problems of Tory MPs in the expenses saga with scant attention, apparently, being given to the problems of Brown and his ministers. We’ve seen it in abundance on the site. It’s all media bias, the “Beeb having it in for us” or that the Telegraph…

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Could this give Saffron Waldon to the Lib Dems?

Could this give Saffron Waldon to the Lib Dems?

Telegraph Is Heffer too right wing to become the “White suit” candidate? If I was the Lib Dem PPC in the Essex seat of Saffron Walden I’d be getting very excited this morning following the announcement by controversial Telegraph columnist, Simon Heffer, that he plans to stand against the sitting MP, deputy speaker, and MP allowance claimer, Sir Alan Haselhurst. Just look at the numbers. The notional 2005 result in the seat was: CON: 25593 (50.5%) LD: 14715 (29%) LAB:…

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Can Dave go on “out-Blairing” Tony Blair?

Can Dave go on “out-Blairing” Tony Blair?

Guardian.co.uk Has he created another 24 hours not talking about Europe? I am coming to the view that when it comes to tapping into the public mood and dominating the news agenda David Cameron is even smarter than the past-master, the leader that Labour foolishly sacked, Tony Blair. Just consider what’s happening at the moment. There’s just one week and one day left in the campaign for five yearly election of members of the European Parliament and yet another news…

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